What is Medical Tourism?
Medical tourism is a popular mass culture where people travel long distances to another country, often overseas destinations such as India, Thailand, Japan, to obtain medical, dental and surgical care while simultaneously being holidaymakers at the same time.
Earliest Health Tourism Centers
Many of the earliest civilizations knew medical tourism in the form of sacred temple baths. Historical accounts of Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Chinese and Indian cultures speak of bathing and healing complexes constructed around therapeutic springs.
As early as the Bronze Age (2000 B.C.), hill tribes near present-day St. Moritz, Switzerland gathered around to drink and bathe in the iron-rich mineral springs of the region. Bronze Age implements, including votive drinking cups, have also been found around thermal springs in Celtic mineral wells in England, France and Germany.
In ancient Sumer (4000 B.C.), the earliest known health institutions were erected alongside mineral water springs taking the form of elevated temples with flowing pools. Although, most cultures following Sumer certainly understood and appreciated the healing effects of mineral-rich water, it was ancient Hellas and the Greek civilization that first laid the foundation for a comprehensive health tourism system.
Greek Medical Tourism - Ascepian Temples
Some of the earliest health centers built for medical purposes in the ancient Greek world were the Asclepia Temples. Erected in honor of the Greek god of healing and medicine, Asclepius, these places served as central locations for the treatment of the sick or virtually anyone who required it. People from around the region traveled to these temples in hopes of receiving the god's grace.
The healing powers Asclepius possessed allowed him to, among other things, revive the dead, reverse the aging process, cure blindness, etc. The Greek people’s love for Asclepius grew ever stronger as evidenced by the fact that by the 4th century B.C., Asclepian healing temples had been built throughout the Hellenic world, from Epidaurus to Tricca.
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